Rothbury Steel Inc. is the latest incarnation of a Muskegon, MI-area foundry long known as Kurdziel Iron Foundry, and briefly as Carlton Creek Ironworks. The foundry was bought by Michigan Steel Inc. in July 2011 and reconfigured to melt steel as well as gray and ductile iron, for castings and counterweights supplied to machine and equipment builders, appliance and automotive manufacturers, and as municipal castings.
A ribbon cutting and “reopening” ceremony was held there on April 27. The current workforce there is about 50, according to local reports, but Michigan Steel anticipates it could hire up to 300 as the business builds. In addition to pouring castings, Rothbury Steel offers abrasive blasting and custom-finish painting for various parts and products.
Established in 1937, Kurdziel Industries was sold to the investment group Monomoy Capital Partners L.P. in 2008. Monomoy renamed the operation Carlton Creek Ironworks, but then sold it to Michigan Steel in 2011.
Michigan Steel operates a foundry in Muskegon where it produces carbon, low-alloy, and high-alloy steel castings weighing up to 3,000 lb. Recently, it formed a venture to market railroad bogies produced in India by Steelcast Ltd. for the U.S. market.